Chrysostom’s homilies invite us to note the humility with which St Paul refers to himself: he neither disguises his former sinfulness, not rejoices in his own strength – every thing is for and by Christ. He is not forgetful of his sins, but he knows they are forgiven him, and he wants to be an example to all sinners that there is none, no not one, not even the greatest is who beyond the redeeming love of Christ. It was, St Augustine says, solely by the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul, like all of us, was saved from the sins in which he languished; whilst the soul can injure itself, it cannot provide the medicine needed to heal itself. Just as, if we would heal the self-indulgences which harm the body, we must heed the advice of the doctor, so too, with the soul, must we heed the advice of Christ the healer. If we acquire the grace of faith, then we are just by that faith, and the just man lives thereby.

Chrysologus notes that that Paul does not exhort us by the might and power of God, but by his great mercy – for that alone saves us. But if men will not admit their sin and will not repent of it – if they persist in it and glory in their own righteousness, then they do so to their ultimate destruction, as Paul might have done had he not responded to God’s grace.

St Cyril of Jerusalem marvelled at the way in which it was the former persecutor, Paul, who contributed so many epistles to the Canon. It was not that the other Apostles did not have anything to say, but it was the case that no one could accuse Paul of always having followed Jesus. He is a perfect example of the prodigal son brought home.

St Athanasius points out St Paul’s method in passing on the true teaching. That which the Apostles received they passed on without change so that the doctrine of the mysteries (the sacraments) and Christ would remain correct. The Divine Word, the Son of God, wants us to follow their teaching – only from that source do we get ‘faithful words, worthy of acceptance’.

St Augustine reminds us that there was one sole reason the Word became flesh – that was to eliminate the disease of sin. Every single person has fallen short of the will of God, and there is nothing for us but damnation; justice would be to damn us all. But here we are liberated by God’s redeeming love – we are ‘vessels of mercy’, freed not by our merits but by the love of Christ.

St Isaac the Syrian reminds us that St Paul says he is the greatest of sinners even though he has spent years proclaiming the Gospel in hard conditions and through much suffering. He knew that he must run the race to the end, and he hoped for the crown eternal at the end.

St Augustine comments that if we are to attain that vision by which we see God as he is, our hearts must be cleansed.

For St Basil, tribulations can be the equivalent of training for athletes – hard at the time, but beneficial, and, if taken in the right way, can lead on to glory. Chrysostom comments that you cannot say that even the most righteous person passes their life without tribulation, for even if in appearance, the person is tranquil, no man knows what goes on beneath the appearance. If, as the Lord says (Matthew 7:13-14) the broad and easy way leads to destruction, then we can enter into eternal life only by the narrow way, which is also a hard way. As St Paul knew, we are strongest when we are so weak we have to rely on God. We are, he says, to ‘glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;and perseverance, character; and character, hope’.

Bede advises is to reflect on how the Lord allows those destined for eternal life to be stricken in this life by trials and by persecution from the wicked. If we do so reflect, then we grieve less over our own adversities, and learn instead to esteem it joy when we fall into various types of trouble.

Discipline is needed for children, as it is for us all, and we should, Theodoret of Cyr tells us, see God’s discipline in this fashion

Painful rather than pleasant

Chrysostom compares discipline and its effects to bitter medicine, which at the first seem unpleasant, but later lead to our being cured. We feel despondency, but later we know it was worth it. We accept, with grace, what we are sent, for we are sinners, and we none of us deserve the great sacrifice Christ made for us. Through suffering in the right way we can gain wisdom, patience and strength, and the weaker we feel, the more we should throw ourselves entirely into the hands of our heavenly Father.

Ambrosiaster reminds us that in stating that Christ rose, Paul is refuting those false prophets who claimed Christ was never incarnate, so not having been born, could not rise again. The resurrection proves Christ was a man and able to merit, by his righteousness, the resurrection of the dead. Although he was, by nature life, he tasted death, St Cyril tells us, for the sake of us all; by his ineffable power he trampled on death in his own flesh that he might be the first born from the dead – he destroyed the power of death. He does not suffer in so far as he is viewed as God by nature, yet the sufferings of his flesh were according to the economy of the dispensation. For in what other way could he be the ‘first born of every creature’ and ‘of the dead’ unless the Word, being God, made his own flesh to suffer?

Athanasius teaches is that by the sacrifice of his own body, Jesus put an end to the law that was against us and made a new beginning of life for us, by the hope the the resurrection which he has given us. Since it was by man that death prevailed over us, so for this cause was the Word of God made man and through his sacrifice has cancelled the bond of death and destroyed its dominion over us. If the redeemer did not pay the price in his own flesh, St Basil tells us, then he could not have destroyed sin; we who had died in Adam could not have been raised in Christ unless Christ had truly been man.

This does not mean, St Augustine wrote in his City of God, that all who die in Adam will be raised in Christ, for not all will confess him, and those who do not will be punished for eternity by a second death. Adam died because he sinned, Ambrosiaster wrote in his commentary, and so it was only Christ, who was without sin, who could overcome death for us. We enter death through Adam, and eternal life through Christ alone. It is the rule of the devil and of death that Christ will destroy utterly, and the powers of hell will be nullified.

St Gregory of Nazianzus challenges anyone who interprets verse 25 as meaning Christ’s reign will have an end. Who, he asks, will bring that reign to an end? Who could? This is to mistake the meaning of the word ‘until’ (as some do with Matthew 1:25), which is not always exclusive of what comes after. What sane person would interpret Jesus’ saying “I am with you until the end of the World’ as meaning he could be with us thereafter?

Just as death was the first fruit of Adam’s sin and was the first sin to enter the world, so it will be the last to be destroyed, Chrysostom reminds us. Our new life begins by faith and is carried on, says Augustine, by hope, but the time will come when death shall be destroyed and we shall be changed and be like the angels; we have now mastered fear by faith, but then we shall have the mastery in love by vision. He takes upon himself our infirmities, and heal them through his love and his sacrifice.

In saying all things will be subject to the Father, Christ is not saying, as the Arian falsely taught, that he and the Father are not one, Theodoret of Cyr reminds us. They confuse two things – Christ’s humanity, which like all humanity will be subject to the Father, and his divinity, which is , of course, one with the Father

Here, as Chrysostom reminds us, Paul goes on to describe the new life incumbent on those who have been baptised and raised to new life in Christ. We are to live under Christ, and for Christ as the one focus of our striving, manifesting this new life by our attention to heavenly things and to the practical work of love.

St Isaac the Syrian asks what this ‘resurrection of the soul’ is, and what it means to say we have been raised with Christ? He reminds us of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:6:

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ

where he shows this resurrection to be the exodus from the old state which in the likeness of Sheol incarcerates a man so that the light of the Gospel will not shine mystically upon him. This is a breath of life through hope in the resurrection, and by it the dawning of divine wisdom shines in his heart, so that a man should become new, having nothing of the old man. Then the image of Christ is formed in us through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of him.

St Augustine reminds us that if we have risen with Christ, we have put off the old Adam, and we will seek the things that are above.

St Gregory of Nyssa comments that if reason assumes sway over our emotions, each of them is transmuted into a form of virtue. So, anger produces courage, terror caution, fear obedience, hatred aversion from vice, the power of love the desire for what is truly beautiful. High spirit in our character raises our thoughts above the passions and keeps it from bondage to what is base.

In remembering that out life is hid with Christ in God, Paul directs us to the fact he emphasises again and again, which is that in all things we are partakers with him. Through this type of love, St Augustine says, even though we dwell in this corruptible body, we die to this world and our real life in Christ is what matters to us. What we desire now is not present, but we do not alter in our desire for it, and that desire for the world to come should be part of our daily spiritual exercise. In this way we can put to death the carnal in us.

Moral choice rather than human nature is the determining feature in enabling us to put off the old nature and put on the new. St Basil tells us we should seek not the goods of this world, but should, instead, put on the ‘heart of mercy, kindness, humility, patience and meekness’.

On the Cross it was not the Godhead but our weakness that was brought into subjection, St Ambrose tells us, and so it is that the Son becomes subject to the Father in his participation in our nature. This is so that when the lusts of the flesh are brought into subjection the heart may have no concern for riches or ambition or pleasures. The intention is that God should be all in all to us, if we live after his image and likeness, as far as we can attain to it, through all. The benefit has passed, then, from the individual to the community; for in his flesh he has tamed the nature of all human flesh.

St Gregory of Nazianzus, quoting 1 Corinthians 15:28 that ‘God will be all in all’, explains that he will be just that in the time of restitution; not in the sense that the Father alone will be, and the Son be wholly resolved into him, like a torch into a great pyre, from which it was pulled away for a short time and then put back when we shall no longer be divided (as we are now by movements and passions) and containing nothing at all of God, or very little, but then we shall be entirely like God, ready to receive into our hearts the whole God and him alone. This is the perfection to which we are to press on.

St Athanasius tells us that although He is the Word, he is not to be compared with human words which are composed of changing syllables, for he is unchanging, the eternal image of the Father. Men, who are composed of parts, who are made out of nothing, speak in a composite and divisible fashion. But God possesses true existence and is not composite; hence His Word also has true existence and is not made of different parts or syllables. He is the one and only-begotten God, who proceeds in his goodness form the Father and from a good fountain and orders all things and binds them together.

St Gregory of Nazianzus tells us that Je is called ‘the image’ because he is of one substance with the Father; He stems from the Father, but the Father, being Father, does not stem from Him – it is in the nature of an image to copy the original and be names after it. But there is more to it than this, because in the ordinary way of things a copy is a motionless thing. Here we have the living image of a living being, indistinguishable from the original.

St Cyril of Alexandria reminds us that the Son remained the Word of God, though he became man, being the Father in form according to his his spiritual image.

St Athanasius teaches us that He is called ‘firstborn’ not because he was from the Father, but because in Him the creation came to be; and as before the Creation He was the Son, through whom was the Creation, so also before he was called the firstborn of the whole Creation, the Word Himself was with God and the Word was God. (St John 1:1). Had the Word be a creature, He would have been called the firstborn of other creatures – not of Creation itself.

St Cyril of Jerusalem teaches us that Christ is the Maker of all things, at the bidding of the Father, and not only of what we see, but of what we cannot see.

Reflecting on the economy of salvation, Theodoret of Cyr reminds us that Christ is head of the church and firstborn from the dead through his humanity. He fills His Church with divine gifts, and by God’s Grace His Church is joined with Him in all things.

St Basil tells us that the true peace is from above. Yet as long as we were bound to the flesh, we were yoked to many things which troubled us. Seek then, after peace, a released from the troubles of this world. Possess a clam mind, a tranquil and unconfused state of soul, which is neither agitated by the passions nor drawn aside by false doctrines that challenge by their persuasiveness to an assent, in order then that you should attain that peace of God which is past all understanding. He who seeks after Christ seeks peace, because in Christ alone in peace to be found.

The Lord endured all for us making peace through the blood of the Cross. We were, St Cyril of Jerusalem writes, enemies of Gd through sin, and one of two things was necessary: either that God in his wisdom and justice should destroy all mankind, or that he should, in in loving kindness, remit the penalty. So, in his wisdom he preserved the truth of his sentence, and so Christ took our sins in his body on the tree, that we, being dead through sin might through his death die to sin, and through his resurrection rise to new life in him. In Him we are redeemed and restored to new life.

Chrysostom reminds us that to the world the Cross is a cause of shame; but in heaven, and for believers it is the highest glory. That the Christ should have suffered and died to save us is the one thing fallen man can boast about. In talking about the world, Paul is, of course, referring to the things of this life, reputation, wealth, prestige and all the rest of it; these things should be dead to all Christians. In dying on the Cross, Jesus died for all who will receive him, and we, who live carnally, should fix our minds on the Cross too, It has not only made the world dead to Paul, it has raised him to new heights. He knows we are not saved by the Law, but by being made a new creation in Christ.

Theodoret notes that Paul mentions becoming a new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Our saving baptism is an image of the things to come when the dead are resurrected and we are all transformed and freed and redeemed from the burden of sin. Ridding ourselves of sin’s burden we receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Chrysostom tells us that the New Israel are those who pursue the new creation, and that those who oppose it, even though they be Israelites by birth, will fall away. The New Israel consists of those who are truly prepared for the vision of God, even if in this life they see as through a glass darkly.

Paul is writing to the Galatians to warn them of the dangers of following the Judaisers. They need to realise the seriousness of their situation and respond to his warnings or they will be lost.

As Marius Victorinus points out, Paul acknowledges that the path of the Christian will be one of suffering, and he acknowledges his own suffering. He carries on his own body the marks of his witness to Christ.

In telling them that the grace of the Lord Jesus is with their spirit, Paul is leading them away from corrupted things and pointing everywhere to the benevolent work of God – and reminding them of the Grace they have enjoyed. He is leading them away entirely from their legalistic errors, for the receiving of the Spirit was not for the poverty of legalism, but for righteousness according to the Spirit

One of the greatest of our Popes was St Leo I, and this passage, from a sermon of his for the occasion of the feast of SS Peter and Paul, is a powerful reminder of what we owe to the two men who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, did so much to spread the Good News in the post-resurrection period.

The whole world, dearly-beloved, does indeed take part in all holy anniversaries, and loyalty to the one Faith demands that whatever is recorded as done for all men’s salvation should be everywhere celebrated with common rejoicings. But, besides that reverence which today’s festival has gained from all the world, it is to be honoured with special and peculiar exultation in our city, that there may be a predominance of gladness on the day of their martyrdom in the place where the chief of the Apostles met their glorious end.

For these are the men, through whom the light of Christ’s gospel shone on you, O Rome, and through whom you, who wast the teacher of error, wast made the disciple of Truth. These are your holy Fathers and true shepherds, who gave you claims to be numbered among the heavenly kingdoms, and built you under much better and happier auspices than they, by whose zeal the first foundations of your walls were laid: and of whom the one that gave you your name defiled you with his brother’s blood.

These are they who promoted you to such glory, that being made a holy nation, a chosen people, and royal state 1 Peter 2:9, and the head of the world through the blessed Peter’s holy See you attained a wider sway by the worship of God than by earthly government. For although you were increased by many victories, and extended your rule on land and sea, yet what your toils in war subdued is less than what the peace of Christ has conquered.

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For the last three years I have been contributing Patristic commentaries on the Gospel readings of the day for each Sunday. We have now come to the end of that, as I began with the reading for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, which can be found here. I will provide a link for each Sunday for those interested in what the Church Fathers had to say about the Gospel readings. I will now move on to offer a Patristic commentary on the second reading, beginning today with:

Marius Victorinus, in his commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, tells us that the metaphor of inheritance refers to our receiving eternal life. This comes about through faith in Jesus Christ – that means when we believe that he is the Son of God and the chosen Messiah, and that he has the power to save us and has accomplished every mystery on our behalf. All these things are reported in the Gospel. But what we should note here is that, while Paul is stating this fact, he refers it to their persons, offering incentives to persuade them more readily. We are now sons from faith in Christ Jesus. This illustrates the perfection of believers, for what is more perfect than to be called sons of God?

Chrysostom asks and answers the question of how we are made sons of God. Christ is the Son of God, and if we put on Christ, having the Son inside us and being made like unto him, then we have been made sons by being baptised in Christ.

Cyprian comments that one who, having laid bare his sins, has been sanctified by baptism and spiritually transformed into a new man has been made ready to receive the Holy Spirit.

St Jerome makes an analogy with metal smelting, noting that when we glow with the ardour of the Holy Spirit, we are all alike, and it does not matter what metal we were originally made of.

Chrysostom notes how insatiable St Paul’s soul is. Having said we become sons of God through faith, he does not stop there, but seeks out something more to say, which can make still more plain ur closer unity with Christ. Having said “You have put Him on”, he is not content with this, but interpreting it he speaks of something more intimate than this association and says, “You are all one in Christ” – that is you have one form, one character, that of Christ. What words could inspire more awe than these? The former Jew or slave is clothed in the form not of an angel or archangel but of the Lord himself and in himself displays Christ.

St Jerome says that whenever the Lord is called Abraham’s offspring, this must be understood in the bodily sense of of his generation from the stock of Abraham. But when it is applied to us who, receiving the Saviour’s word, believe in him, and assume the dignity of Abraham’s race, to whom the covenant was made. We are the inheritors of that promise.

One of the most reassuring passages in all of Scripture comes in Hebrews 4:14-16:

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

High Priests were, by their nature, somewhat remote and perhaps forbidding – they went into the Holy of Holies once a year, and they were offering sacrifices on behalf of the people. But here, the author of Hebrews offers us a very different version – Jesus. Jesus knows us in our very weakness, he knows those weaknesses, and he is the propitiation for our sins – he can help us obtain mercy.

What good news this is! We do not have to offer any sacrifices, nor do we have to seek the mediation of any other party – we have our own Great High Priest, and He died and He rose for us. We do not need to hold back, or to be fearful – we can come directly to Jesus and through Him, obtain mercy.

We don’t know who wrote Hebrews, and from the earliest times its authorship has been questioned. It is there is the earliest codices, but we know that St Jerome only included it in the Vulgate because of Catholic tradition:

This must be said to our people, that the epistle which is entitled “To the Hebrews” is accepted as the apostle Paul’s not only by the churches of the east but by all church writers in the Greek language of earlier times, although many judge it to be by Barnabas or by Clement. It is of no great moment who the author is, since it is the work of a churchman and receives recognition day by day in the public reading of the churches. If the custom of the Latins does not receive it among the canonical scriptures, neither, by the same liberty, do the churches of the Greeks accept John’s Apocalypse. Yet we accept them both, not following the custom of the present time but the precedent of early writers, who generally make free use of testimonies from both works.

That is an important statement about how and why some books were accepted by everyone, even though they were not universally received in the sense of being part of the common history of every part of the Church.

As Jerome wrote, the authorship does not matter.As early as Origen in the second century, Church Fathers had spotted the differences in language between it and Paul’s letters, but since the Church accepted it, its authorship was irrelevant. There were many ‘disputed’ books in circulation, but Hebrews was never one of them; whoeever wrote, it, it was recognised as the authentic Gospel message. In a world where the vengeance of the gods was used as a means to coerce and quieten the populace, the early Church called people to it by other means.

None of that is to deny the many places where we are told of God’s anger with sin, but it is to point up how different the general message of Christianity was. I still find those verses the most comforting.

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St Paul deliberately uses the image of the athlete to remind us that our Christian journey is one where we are constantly in training. Our encounter with Christ changes us, but it does not take us out of the world, and we are assaulted soon enough by its woes and cares. The more we train, the better, because the closer we come to conforming ourselves with Christ, the harder it often becomes for us, as the devil hates it when we reject him and embrace Jesus. If we are half-hearted and lukewarm we can be sure we shall be left alone; he’s no interest in us, we’re doing nothing to threaten his hold on us. But if we are getting closer to Jesus, then he will surely d his worst to stop us. That’s why I tremble for those who say they are ‘saved’ and then think that’s it. It is the mindset in which we stop training; if we’re not careful we’ll fall into the real pitfall here. That is that we will start telling other folk they are not saved and need to be saved – and think we are the instrument of God.

This is a most subtle temptation, because it mimics what Christians always do, which is to share their faith with others, and invite those who are not against us to be with us – as well as inviting those who are against us to ponder why that is. But if we suppose, as one newly in Christ, that we have what it takes to do this, then we take huge risks. We should note that even the great Paul himself did not immediately embark upon his great missionary journeys; he grew in Christ and fellowship first; so must we.

Training is needed because we wrestle with a great enemy, one so shameless that he thought he could tempt Jesus himself; he does not hesitate to try his chances with us. Our fallen nature gives him his chances. Are we conscious of some gift or other? Well, he will be happy if we become preoccupied with that, and put it before Jesus. We must work hard at whatever it is, and we do not have even five minutes for a prayer in the morning. Then there’s that other fellow who also wants it, and he’s doing better than we are, how dare he? And before we know it, we have given way to envy and spitefulness. We have put our own concerns before God. We are already moving away from the race – and losing it in the process. We may indeed gain the world – but in the process lose our soul. All of this Our Lord knew, and Paul also knew it. He gave everything for Christ.

Can we? Not all are called as Paul was, but all can get into training. Do we have a regular prayer life? How much time to do we spend with the Lord every day? Do we welcome him at the beginning and thank him at the end of the day? Those old monks knew a thing or two (as their modern successors do). Regular daily prayer is the minimum training we should be following, and if we aren’t, we should ask why? Can we not, really not, spare five minutes at each end of the day? What’s that? It takes longer and you haven’t the time? Well, take five minutes if that’s what you’ve got, it is better than meaning to spend half an hour and spending none. Stay in training, stay with the Lord, and we shall persevere to the end.

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." J.R.R. Tolkien <br>“I come not from Heaven, but from Essex.” William Morris